How to grow your small business with marketing
In a nutshell, marketing is a process involving the promotion and advertising of a product or service that you may be selling or providing. In a competitive business environment, it’s important for a business to market their products and services as this is a way for the business to connect with their target audience.
This involves the understanding of your customers and how your product or service can best suit them. Some of the expenses you may incur, when wondering how to grow your small business with marketing, can involve the development and creation of a website, advertising, hiring of a staff member to manage the marketing or hiring an agency. It can also involve celebrity endorsements, affiliate marketing or other promotional activities.
How can marketing help a small business grow?
Marketing, if done correctly, helps in the growth of your business and can also help you stand out amongst your competitors. Promoting your business allows consumers the opportunity to learn about and educate themselves on the services and products that your business provides. Often you are competing with several companies in the same industry. When you market your business you can connect with potential consumers instantly. We are in a very unique period, you are able to connect with your preferred audience using relatively inexpensive methods. A small business loan might be beneficial in funding the activities you are planning on doing. You may wonder how to grow your small business with marketing and be unsure of the various methods that are available to you. We dive into the ins and outs of marketing below.
What to include in a marketing plan?
When considering how to grow your small business with marketing, the first place to start is with a marketing plan. Here is a breakdown of the components that can make up a marketing plan. It can help you to define your offering and work out the best channels for your marketing activities to take place.
Product:
These include the services, items, or devices that you sell.
Price:
What you charge for your services or items. Always make sure that you have done your research and are not overcharging compared to your competitors.
Place:
Where are you located, what areas do you service, or where you will sell your products?
Promotion:
Include any ongoing deals or discounts that will run in the future. Run specials during slow times of the year to keep the cash flow coming in or potential loyalty discounts for loyal customers.
People:
Who will you be targeting in your promotion, who is your target audience? This is a way for you to ensure that you are advertising through your target audience’s preferred method.
Physical evidence:
Do you have any success stories or testimonials from previous customers that you can include on your website? Word of mouth is a very strong marketing tool so you can leverage off of previous customers for referrals.
Process:
What are the steps involved in using the service or product and how long will it take to produce the service? It can help to have these as simplified as possible and require as little effort by the consumer as possible. If your services are more streamlined and automated, your customers will be able to book your services or purchase your products with ease.
How can you market your small business?
There are many different ways on how to grow your small business with marketing available, let’s explore some of the more popular ones below. When creating your content and how you will advertise, you may want to look at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to ensure you follow any relevant regulations.
Facebook ads:
This platform tracks the user behaviour to develop highly accurate data of the users allowing you to drive targeted ads directly onto their phones or desktop devices. There are over a billion people using Facebook so you have a large audience at your fingertips. It can require investment to run Facebook ads. These are however highly targeted meaning each of your ads is being viewed by the audience you are targeting. Facebook Blueprint offers classes on all of its platforms so you can get the most out of the ads that you run.
Google ads:
A way of advertising online, by using the behaviour of users on Google. It allows businesses to promote their products and services. Google ads track the behaviour of the users searching for certain products or services, information about them, and their location. They offer access to your target customer base in a highly targeted way. Google ads can be a great way to grow your small business with marketing, directly connecting to your customers in a typically cost-effective way.
Billboards:
Are a large outdoor advertising poster or structure that is placed in high traffic areas. Billboards can require a large investment of cash to run. However, if you are offering a localised service they can be a great way to raise awareness among your target customers.
Magazines/newspapers:
Advertising in print media is another way for how to grow your small business with marketing especially if you choose publications in your industry or service. You can run simply an ad and buy space to promote your products or services. You also have the ability to run a feature article that could provide value to your audience. For example, if you are a landscape business, you could include an article on the top tips to get ahead in landscaping. Within this article you can then also promote your services.
Radio and TV:
More traditional marketing includes radio and TV. While these channels give you access to a wide range of audiences, they can also be very expensive and might require a large cash injection.
Affiliate marketing:
This is where you employ a third party to do your advertising. You could hire an influencer to promote your product or service or you could also give them a special link or code to use. Whenever any customer uses that link or code, the influencer would get a small referral payment for referring them. Affiliate marketing is a great way to sell products or services in a way that will only cost you every time there is a sale made. However, some influencers, depending on their popularity, will require payment upfront to use their services.
How to fund marketing activities?
With all of the ways on how to grow your small business with marketing, you are most likely starting to think about the benefits that you will reap from having some of these activities in place. A small business loan could be very useful in funding the marketing efforts you are about to embark on. A small business loan can help you to grow your small business with marketing without impacting your cash flow.
Lumi offers very easy-to-apply-for small business loans that require minimal documentation. The application process is so easy it is done via our website, in a matter of minutes.
If approved you will get access to the funds within one business day. So you can get those marketing activities in place quickly. This article has covered how to grow your small business with marketing and when you are ready to commence, just click here to see if you qualify for a Lumi loan today!
Your Lumi team
